Mad Cave Studios will release Denver, a dystopian, post-climate change thriller written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (Jonah Hex), with art by Pier Brito (Daredevil), and lettering by the late Bill Tortolini. Set in a future where the capital of Colorado has become one of the few safe cities after most of the planet was devastated by rising oceans, the comic follows a man who’s blackmailed into betraying the Mile-High City after his wife is kidnapped.
Denver #1 cover A, by Amanda Conner
The official synopsis explains, “Denver survives as one of the last tightly controlled safe zones on the planet where every resource is rationed, and every citizen is monitored. Max Flynn, a veteran border officer struggling to protect his family under these unforgiving rules, is shattered when his wife is suddenly kidnapped. A mysterious enemy forces him to betray Denver from within or lose her forever. As Max assembles a trusted crew and descends into the city’s underbelly, his desperate hunt threatens to expose the cracks in Denver’s rigid order and ignite a reckoning that could end the last safe city on Earth.”
The book was originally crowdfunded through Kickstarter in 2014. Gray comments, “Jimmy and I spent many years creating comics together, so it’s exciting to see one of our creator-owned projects reaching a new audience through Mad Cave. I think readers who enjoy beautifully illustrated sci-fi crime stories with a strong atmosphere and character work are going to find a lot to enjoy in Denver.”
Palmiotti describes the book as being inspired by Heavy Metal, saying, “Justin and I set out to build a world far outside the safety of mainstream comics, one that embraces adult material and violence without ever feeling gratuitous. We wanted a place where the brutality has weight, the characters feel real, and the story makes sense on its own harsh terms. Our goal was to give readers someone to care about in a world that doesn’t care back. And with Pier Brito’s explosive visual style driving every page, we’ve created an adventure that we think looks and hits like nothing else out there.”
Brito, who also collaborated with Palmiotti on 2017’s Jetsons series, adds, “Working on Denver was a blast. Jimmy and Justin’s vision of this massive Tower of Babel-like city in the middle of the sea, visually, I find very inspiring. There is a feeling of a broader world behind this story, which I hope intrigues the reader. It was a big challenge and a great opportunity to work on a book where I can help visualize such a scenario, from pencils to final color.”
Issue #1 will be released on August 26, with covers by Brito, Amanda Conner, Uko Smith, and Dave Johnson. Its release will come five years after Tortolini’s death from a heart attack, aged just 46. You can check out Brito, Smith, and Johnson’s covers below.
Cover B by Pier Brito
Cover C by Uko Smith
Cover D by Dave Johnson
